http://www.sbnation.com/2010/2/3/1290513/nba-trade-deadline-breakdown-amare-stoudemire-rumors-antawn-jamison-andre-iguodalaAtlanta Hawks
Status: Buyer, if they can
Team Weakness(es): Interior depth
Projected 2010 cap room: $5.5 million (without Joe Johnson)
Untouchables: Josh Smith, Al Horford
Potentially on the block: Maurice Evans ($2.5 million this year, player option for 2010/11)
Expiring Contracts: Joe Johnson ($15 million)
Prospects: Jeff Teague
Good trade partners: Charlotte, Milwaukee, Washington
Possible targets: Brendan Haywood, Kurt Thomas, DeSagana Diop
Atlanta has a definite need for another big man to handle Dwight Howard and Shaquille O'Neal, but they literally have nothing to trade, so I strongly doubt anything happens. Sorry, Hawks fans.
Toronto Raptors
Status: Buyer, if they can be
Team Weaknesses: Interior defense, defensive rebounding, perimeter defense ... defense in general
Projected 2010 cap room: $6 million (without Bosh)
Untouchables: Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani
Potentially on the block: Jose Calderon ($8.2 million this year, three more years left)
Expiring Contracts: Amir Johnson ($3.9 million), Rasho Nesterovic ($1.9 million), Antoine Wright ($1.8 million)
Prospects: DeMar DeRozan, Marco Belinelli, Sonny Weems
Good trade partners: Golden State, Houston, LA Lakers, Milwaukee
Possible targets: Raja Bell, Charlie Bell
It looks like the Raptors won't trade Chris Bosh yet, because they're cheap they want the revenue that comes from a first-round playoff appearance and Bosh's presence ensures that. That means they probably won't do anything. SB Nation's Raptors HQ e-mails to say they could use a veteran shooting guard, but they don't really have the assets to make it happen. They could try to move Jose Calderon, who's now coming off the bench, but his contract is pretty big and teams don't seem interested. In the end, they've played well recently and probably don't want to mess up the chemistry they've developed.
Los Angeles Lakers
Status: Buyer
Team Weaknesses: Point guard defense
Projected 2010 cap room: $-29 million ($16 million OVER luxury tax)
Untouchables: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Potentially on the block: Sasha Vujacic ($5 million this year, one more year)
Expiring Contracts: Adam Morrison ($5.2 million), Derek Fisher ($5 million)
Prospects: Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, Josh Powel
Good trade partners: Chicago, Detroit, Golden State, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota
Possible targets: Kirk Hinrich
The Lakers tend to be reluctant to make big mid-season moves because of the learning curve of the Triangle offense. However, they know they need better point guard play, and have some assets (over $15 million in expiring contracts, Jordan Farmar) to make it happen. Kirk Hinrich seems like an ideal fit for the them, though his contract isn't cheap. Otherwise, it's tough to find a point guard that makes sense, due to the unique nature of the Triangle.
There's also this: they might be good enough to win anyway, so why risk it? They're already paying a huge luxury tax bill, so why pay more to make a marginal improvement? They won it last year with this mix, after all.
New York Knicks
Status: Buyer, sort of
Team Weaknesses: Rebounding, interior defense, foul-drawing
Projected 2010 cap room: $26 million
Untouchables: Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler
Potentially on the block: Jared Jeffries ($6.5 million, one more year), no, I'm not counting Eddy Curry
Expiring Contracts: Larry Hughes ($13.7 million), Al Harrington ($10 million), Cuttino Mobley ($9.5 million, with insurance), Darko Miicic ($7.5 million), David Lee* ($7 million), Chris Duhon ($6 million), Nate Robinson* ($4 million)
Prospects: Jordan Hill, Toney Douglas
Good trade partners: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, LA Clippers, Memphis, Miami, New Jersey, Phoenix, Utah
Possible targets: Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Tyrus Thomas, Marcus Camby, Jermaine O'Neal, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer
The Knicks have a problem. Under normal circumstances, they'd be a seller, because their focus is the future. The goal would be to shed long-term contracts to get even more salary-cap space and position themselves better in the draft lottery. However, because of Isiah Thomas' stupidity, the Knicks don't have a first-round pick this year, which means they have no incentive to tank focus on the future. At the same time, they need to preserve cap space, and they currently only have enough space for one max free agent.
That means they'll look for an upgrade on an expiring contract to help with the "playoff push," all while trying to find a taker for Jared Jeffries (and, if we're honest, Eddy Curry, though that'd require spiking some GM's drink on the eve of the deadline). This is exactly what they did last year, and they ended up with Chris Wilcox and Larry Hughes, so that should tell you how effective their quest will be this year. They were rumored to be close to a Al Harrington/Tyrus Thomas swap with the Bulls a while back, and those talks could rekindle. Otherwise, they could trade for one of those giant expiring contracts like Tracy McGrady in one of those pointless trades designed to make fans happy. Yippee!
Boston Celtics
Status: Buyer
Team Weaknesses: Athleticism, perimeter depth, point guard depth
Projected 2010 cap room: $-11 million ($3 million under luxury tax)
Untouchables: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins
Potentially on the block: Glen Davis ($3 million this year, one more year)*,
Expiring Contracts: Ray Allen ($18.8 million), Brian Scalabrine ($3.4 million), Eddie House ($2.8 million), Tony Allen ($2.5 million), Marquis Daniels ($1.9 million)
Prospects: J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker
Good trade partners: Chicago, Detroit, Golden State, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Washington
Possible targets: Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Tayshaun Prince, Raja Bell, Monta Ellis, Luke Ridnour, Charlie Bell, Ramon Sessions, Kevin Martin, Andre Iguodala.
Ray Allen's expiring contract is officially on the market! This makes the Celtics a team that is a must-watch in the coming weeks. They've struggled so much recently that it appears Danny Ainge is resigned to the fact that the Celtics must get younger. Ainge is an extremely bold GM, so this is not just posturing. Don't believe him when he says there's nothing to this.
The difficulty of Ainge's quest, though, is that the Celtics can't just tank because of the vets the team already has. They can't just trade Ray Allen for young players; they need to trade Ray Allen essentially for a younger version of Ray Allen. Monta Ellis was one name that came up, but he doesn't fit in well with Boston's style of play. I think the Celtics would love to trade Allen for Sacramento's Kevin Martin, but Martin's not on the block. SB Nation's Celtics Blog and Liberty Ballers collaborated on a Allen/Andre Iguodala trade, but does Iguodala fit in well with Paul Pierce? Chicago could offer Kirk Hinrich, who the Celtics already tried to get (as covered in the Bulls section), and John Salmons, but is that a good enough return? This is the problem with trading Ray Allen now. He needs to be traded for someone really good, and how many really good players are out there that are better than Ray Allen?
Besides a Ray Allen trade, the Celtics also desperately need bench help, particularly at the point and on the wings. Andres Nocioni of Sacramento has been rumored to head to Boston several times, but he has a big contract. We already talked about Hinrich. Jeff Clark from SB Nation's Celtics Blog is enamored with Golden State's Raja Bell, but Bell's hurt now. Detroit could offer Tayshaun Prince, but Prince makes too much money. Milwaukee can offer Luke Ridnor and Charlie Bell, but the two combined make too much. Boston's only assets other than Allen are small expiring contracts and third-tier prospects. That could be enough to get them somebody, but nobody particularly great.
Either way, Boston went from a team likely out of the mix to one of the big players in just a couple weeks.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Status: Buyer
Team Weaknesses: A lack of a finesse power forward
Projected 2010 cap room: $19 million (without LeBron)
Untouchables: LeBron James, Mo Williams
Potentially on the block: Nobody
Expiring Contracts: Shaquille O'Neal ($21 million), Zydrunas Ilgauskas ($11.5 million)
Prospects: J.J. Hickson, Jawad Williams, Darnell Jackson
Good trade partners: Indiana, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Washington
Possible targets: Antawn Jamison, Troy Murphy, Andre Iguodala, Amare Stoudemire.
Cleveland's got a great chance to solidify their status as the league's best team. They have expiring contracts and a definite need for a power forward that can stretch the defense with his shooting and also get them easy points inside. They also have LeBron James in a contract year, so this might be their last chance to win a title with him. Last year, they decided the mix they had was good enough to win it all, and it wasn't. You'd think they wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Target A is Antawn Jamison. LeBron badly wants Jamison, and Jamison's an almost perfect fit. The Cavs are still haggling with particulars with the Wizards, which could derail this. The Wizards want more than cap relief (i.e. Zydrunas Ilgasukas' expiring contract), while the Cavaliers are worried about throwing young power forward J.J. Hickson into the mix. They also want the Wizards to cut Ilgauskas so they can sign him back to back up Shaquille O'Neal. The Wizards also seem reluctant to help out their rival, which would only make sense if this was 2006 and the Wizards were actually good. Either way, expect this talk to continue all the way until the deadline.
Target B is Troy Murphy, but Indiana's setting a ridiculously high price for him right now. Target C is Andre Iguodala, but Iguodala's got a big contract and doesn't really fit in well with LeBron. There's also Target D, Amare Stoudemire, but the Cavs probably don't want to reunite Stoudemire with Shaquille O'Neal.
It's tough to read Cleveland's urgency. On the one hand, LeBron's influence, combined with the possibility that he walks, means they could be desperate to make a big move. On the other hand, they're also the best team in the league, so they could decide they have a better chance to win with this group than last year. I get the sense that teams like the Wizards and Pacers think that it's the former scenario, which explains why they're asking Cleveland for a high price for their players. That could be the right mindset to take, but it also could blow up in their faces when Cleveland calls their bluffs, does nothing and forces them to be stuck with their overpaid players.
